Litter pickers have filled more than 5,000 rubbish bags in less than two months while cleaning up motorways in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Thousands of unwanted items, including sofas, microwaves and mattresses, have been removed from the side of the motorways since the launch of Keep Britain Tidy’s 'Great British Spring Clean' at the beginning of March.

Highways England says 19,450 bags of litter have been collected since the campaign launch and around 200,000 are collected from the country's motorway network each year.

Tim Calvert, from Highways England, said: "Litter and fly-tipping present a serious safety risk besides being unsightly and a risk to wildlife and the environment.

“As well as removing these items from the side of the M1 and M18 in South Yorkshire, we also collected 5,300 bags of litter from across the Yorkshire and Humber region.

A mattress and heaps of rubbish left by flytippers

“We’re also working closely with local authorities in the area to coincide any of our activities for them to collect litter from the A roads.”

"Litter is not only unsightly as well as a risk to wildlife and the environment, but it also puts our workers at risk collecting it and diverts time and money that could be better spent on improving the network.”

A truck collects discarded furniture and waste left on the side of the road

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